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  3. Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching,

Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching,

admin2011-03-11  49
问题     Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching, heating and cooling homes on the distant edges of metropolitan areas. Just off Singing Hills Road, in one of hundreds of two-story homes dotting a former cattle ranch beyond the southern fringes of Denver, Phil Boyle and his family openly wonder if they will have to move close to town to get some relief.
    They still revel in the space and quiet that has drawn a steady exodus from American cities toward places like this for more than half a century. But life on the edges of suburbia is beginning to feel untenable.  Mr. Boyle and his wife must drive nearly an hour to their jobs in the high-tech corridor of southern Denver. With gasoline at more than $ 4 a gallon, Mr. Boyle recently paid $121 to fill his pickup truck with diesel fuel. In March, the last time he filled his propane tank to heat his spacious house, he paid $ 566, more than twice the price of 5 years ago.
    Though Mr. Boyle finds city life unappealing, it is now up for reconsideration. "Living closer in, in a smaller space, where you don’t have that commute," he said, "It’s definitely something we talk about. Before it was’we spend too much time driving.’ Now, it’s ’we spend too much time and money driving.’ "
    Across the nation, the realization is taking hold that rising energy prices are less a momentary blip than a change with lasting consequences. The shift to costlier fuel is threatening to slow the decades-old migration away from cities, while exacerbating the ’housing downturn by diminishing the appeal of larger homes set far from urban jobs.  In Atlanta,  Philadelphia,  San Francisco and Minneapolis, homes beyond the urban core have been falling in value faster than those within, according to an analysis by Moody’s Economy. com. In Denver, housing prices in the urban core rose steadily from 2003 until late last year compared with previous years, before dipping nearly 5 percent in the last three months of last year, according to Economy. com. But house prices in the suburbs began falling earlier, in the middle of 2006, and then accelerated, dropping by 7 percent during the last three months of the year from a year earlier.
    Many factors have propelled the unraveling of American real estate, from the mortgage crisis to a staggering excess of home construction.  But economists and real estate agents are growing convinced that the rising cost of energy is now a primary factor pushing home prices down in the suburbs. More than three-fourths of prospective home buyers are now more inclined to live in an urban area because of fuel prices, according to a recent survey of 903 real estate agents with Coldwell Banker, the national brokerage firm.
The key factor contributing to the downturn of American suburban real estate is______.
选项 A、crisis of loan
B、excessive home construction
C、buyers’ inclination to live in an urban area
D、the constant rise of fuel prices
答案D
解析 此题考查对文章中相关细节的理解。问题问的是郊区房地产市场低迷的关键原因，根据题干信息“factor”及“American suburban real estate”我们可以定位至最后一段。首句指出揭示房地产界现象的两个因素：抵押贷款危机(mortgage crisis)和房地产过度开发(excess of home construction)；紧接着出现了转折，but的出现说明前面说的因素都是次要的，真正重要的因素在转折之后，后文中的a primary factor对应了问题中的key factor，pushing home prices down in the suburbs是问题中contributing to the downturn of American suburban real estate的同义转述，因此文中的rising cost of energy就是答案信息，而D选项正是这一信息的同义转述，因此D选项正确。
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